The Reasons Behind Nasdaq's Blockchain Gamble

Nasdaq recently announced its decision to experiment with the blockchain (the technology behind bitcoin) as a way to record additional information alongside transactions.
MIT Technology Review explains:

Nasdaq intends to use this feature of the blockchain to streamline financial record keeping while making it cheaper and more accurate. Though the company says the blockchain initiative could ultimately be used to record trades of stocks in public firms listed on its exchange, it will begin by focusing on its relatively new private market platform, a service that connects private companies with investors. In this case, record keeping via the blockchain will complement a cloud-based data management tool that tracks who owns shares of a given company, and how much they own.

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